Page 35 of Fatal Deception
Copeland stepped back as if Thomas was offering a grenade. “Nah, I like ’em a little sturdier. Congrats and all, though. I’m going to take Audra back, if that’s alright.”
Audra got to her feet, didn’t wince. The ibuprofenhadhelped, and even if she hadn’t elevated her ankle, she’d stayed mostly off it. She bent over the baby bundle, gave Fox’s forehead a gentlekiss. She gave Thomas a hug, Vi a hug, and Mags a big squeeze. Exchanged goodbyes with all the happy grandparents, then followed Copeland out of the hospital room, high on family and love.
“Here,” Copeland muttered, taking her arm so she could lean on him a little bit while she limped.
And that was nice too. She couldn’t depend on it. She probably shouldn’t even enjoy it. There was no one to lean on in this life except herself.
Which was the depressing pinprick to her bubble of happiness. Once in Copeland’s car, it was another silent ride back. So silent, Audra actually dozed off in the passenger seat. She woke up, groggy and out of sorts, realizing only after a few blinks that the car wasn’t moving.
They were parked. In front of her house. The world was dark around it, but lights shone on the porch and upstairs. He must have left them on since she knew she hadn’t. He must have done it on purpose, with forethought to when they’d return.
Her heart ached. She wanted someone to do that sort of thing, someone to lean on, and yet she never let herself lean, so where did that get her?
Alone with no one to lean on.
But not disappointed. Not hurt. Just…drowning, apparently.
She shook her head. It was just this weird threat thing. It was messing with her equilibrium. Once it was solved, and Copeland was back where he belonged, she’d be back to normal again.
He was getting something out of the back of the car, so she pushed out of her seat. She limped toward the house, but Copeland quickly caught up. He had a duffel on his shoulder but grabbed her arm. “What part of staying off your feet is difficult for you to comprehend?”
She decided to ignore him. “It was nice of you to bring flowers.”
He shrugged. “That’s what people do, I guess.”
“But you were going to avoid it.” They stepped into the cozy living room. She turned to look at him. “What changed your mind?”
“I wasn’t going to avoid it. I just had some work to do first.”
She opened her mouth to delve into that, then remembered she’d promised not to poke at his sore spots, so she just nodded.
“Hungry?” She moved for the fridge, realized she should have asked him to stop at the grocery store. The only thing she had to offer was eggs.
She pulled out the egg carton, glanced at him to ask him if he had any preference for how she prepared the eggs, but he was standing there, scowling, something angry and volatile pumping off him.
That sore spot, vibrating with pain. She desperately wanted to know what had caused it, how to soothe it. She wanted to know so much, but she’d promised…
“Fine. If it’ll get you to stop looking at me like that,fine.”
A little stung, she tried to argue with him, because she wastryingto let it go. “I’m not looking—”
“It’s nothing, but you’re not going to let it go.”
Completely offended now, she set down the eggs a little too hard. “I—”
“My ex-wife was pregnant when we got divorced.”
That shut her up right quick, with a sharp ache of pain for him. No wonder kids and family were a sore spot. Because however this story turned out, he’d said he didn’t have a child. And she could see the pain in his eyes even if he didn’t want it there.
“The kid wasn’t mine. She let me think it was though, for a while anyway. So, yeah, the whole my-friend-is-a-new-dad thing is a little weird and reminiscent of a terrible thing that happened a long time ago. The end.”
She didn’t breathe. It was…terrible. She knew he didn’t want sympathy or thought he didn’t. But she also knew, whether he realized it or not, he was saying this becauseheneeded to. Because it was weighing onhim, eating athim.
He’d stepped into a hospital room where he once thought he’d be in Thomas’s spot, but instead he was just this…solitary outsider.
Even though she wasn’t sure he’d welcome it, she moved over to him. Put her hand on his shoulder, rubbed her palm up and down in a hopefully comforting move. “Copeland, that’s awful.”
He didn’t jerk away like she expected him to. He stood there, glaring at some point on the wall behind her. His breathing wasn’t quite steady, and the anger and grief pumped off him. He’d no doubt bottled it up all evening, and now it needed to come out.